Kulaman Burial Jars in Brussels

Good news: I found out through Google that there are Kulaman burial jars in Brussels, Belgium. Bad news: They are for sale, each for 3,500 euros.

I found the Google images a few weeks ago, and I debated with myself for sometime whether I should write about them or not. I believe that by trying to create a comprehensive research on the jars, by coming up with this blog, I've helped the artifacts become popular. I've helped increased their value, making them more attractive to antiques dealers and collectors.

I don't want to be the one leading buyers to the locations of the limestone burial jars, but I also have the duty to inform you readers the real plight of the artifacts. It is also better if I catalog them now so that it will be easier to trace where they will be. Besides, the jars in Brussels are simply overpriced and only an ill-informed collector would buy them at their advertised price.

The jars in Brussels are quite unremarkable compared to the ones in Ayala Museum or the University of San Carlos Museum. Only one of the two is complete. The other is a lid only. Both are dirty and have started to crumble. At nearly 4,700 U.S. dollars or about 200,000 Philippine pesos each, the 1,500-year-old objects will likely stay where they are now for the next 1,500 years.

The objects are in the tastelessly designed catalog of Trocadero, an "online mall" for "authentic antiques and art offered by credible American, European and Asian antiques dealers." The actual location of the jars, however, is Galerie Cecile Kerner, at 19 Rue Lebeau, Brussels. Below is the description of the jars in the Trocadero website. I edited it slightly for easier reading. I could not make sense of some phrases, though.

Several burial caves were found in the southwestern portion of Cotabato province.These caves had a large number of urns and lids carved from limestone. The average size was about 60 cm, which would be too small for primary burial. The lids were various: some of gable form resembling the roof of houses, some conical form extended to vertical elements often carved into human head or the upper part of a human figure.

Conclusions have been made that high-ranking persons had an anthropomorphic lid. I did a surface test on one of the jars with electronic microscope. It shows vegetal growth after decalcification, and many scientific details that I can explain in French but not in English: Usure en feuilletage des parties en quartz, avec les parties les plus dures saillantes. Phase végétale postérieure à la décalcification. (The erosion is not regular as it would have been with an acid artificial forged patina.)